Before you begin reading: Yes I’m ugly and yes I’m ugly crying 😩😭😭😭 Today, my 5-year-old daughter took her first steps completely on her own. I have watched this video more times than I can count already, and every single time I cry. This story started before Marley was even born. On February 25, 2021, when I was 31 weeks pregnant with her, we were involved in a devastating car accident. I suffered a ruptured spleen, a distal femur fracture, and severe internal bleeding. Doctors were fighting to save both of our lives. The impact caused a placental abruption, and Marley was deprived of oxygen for approximately 10 minutes before she was born. In a single moment, our lives changed forever. While I was recovering from my own injuries, we were also learning what the lack of oxygen had done to my tiny baby girl. We were told she had suffered brain damage that would cause developmental delays. We didn’t know what her future would look like. We didn’t know if she would talk. We didn’t know if she would walk. We didn’t know what milestones would come easily, which ones would take years, or which ones might never come at all. What followed were years of appointments, specialists, therapy sessions, exercises, evaluations, and waiting. So much waiting. Waiting for a word. Waiting for a sign. Waiting for progress. Waiting for milestones that other parents sometimes take for granted. But Marley never stopped trying. She learned sign language so she could communicate before she could speak. She became semi-verbal. She learned to use a walker. She worked her way toward crutches. She fell. She got back up. She tried again. And again. And again. Today I got a phone call from her school telling me she had taken her first steps. Nobody got a video because it happened so unexpectedly. When we got home, I hoped maybe, just maybe, she would do it again. And she did. Five years after doctors couldn’t promise us she would ever walk, my little girl stood up and took steps completely on her own. I don’t think anyone who hasn’t lived this journey can truly understand what those few steps meant. They weren’t just steps. They were five years of therapy. Five years of hard work. Five years of determination. Five years of hope. Five years of people telling us what might never happen. Today, Marley wrote her own story. I am so unbelievably proud of her. Proud doesn’t even feel like a big enough word. From the little girl who fought for oxygen before she ever took her first breath, to the little girl who took her first independent steps today, she has shown me over and over that she is stronger than anyone ever imagined. The doctors couldn’t promise us this day would come. But today, it did. And for the rest of my life, I will remember exactly how it felt to watch my baby walk. ❤️ #highlight #foryoupage #cerebralpalsy #special #ID - @nillababii